The Department of Justice along with NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement, and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS), announced that Rusty Anchor Seafood, of Key West, Inc., a Florida corporation with its principal place of business at Stock Island, Florida, pled guilty and was sentenced today in federal District Court in Key West for having conspired to receive, purchase, and transport quantities of lobster and finfish for resale and distribution in interstate commerce, without complying with Florida law regarding commercial harvest requirements, licensing provisions, and bag and trip limits essential to the lawful harvest, possession, and sale of saltwater products, in violation of the Lacey Act.

U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore accepted Rusty Anchors plea and imposed sentence at the same hearing. Judge Moore imposed a criminal fine of $500,000, half payable immediately and the other half payable over a five year term of Court-supervised probation. Rusty Anchor must also implement a comprehensive Environmental Compliance Plan set out in the written plea agreement, which includes retaining the services of an independent auditor, acceptable to the United States, who will monitor training and operations over the course of the probation.